Trương Minh Bạch Secondary School, worth more than VNĐ100 billion, was built in Đức Lập Thượng Commune, Đức Hoà District in southern Long An Province. The school has been completed and will open this month. — VNA/VNS Photo Đức Hạnh

HÀ NỘI — To improve the quality of education in Long An, the southern province must mobilise private funding resources for the building of national standard schools, local officials have said.

They said that developing private schools should be encouraged as it will reduce the overloading of public schools in the province.

In Đức Lập Thượng Commune in Đức Hòa District, there are only four schools, including two primary schools, a kindergarten and a secondary school.

A shortage of schools forced students to study in overcrowded classrooms or at weekends.

Lê Hữu Phi, chairman of Đức Lập Thượng Commune's People’s Committee, said Đức Lập Thượng A Primary School was built in 2000 with 11 classrooms, a library, two informatics rooms and a room for the study of foreign languages.

The school has nearly 900 students divided into 25 classes.

Due to limited classrooms, the number of students in each class is often high. For example, in Grade 3, the number of students is around 50 students per class.

Nguyễn Chí Thanh, the school’s vice principal, said the new general education programme stipulates that students study two sessions a day. However, due to the shortage of classrooms, the school held classes every Saturday.

He said that the school has called for investment capital to build more schools, but there is no land available.

Seeking capital sources from society is one solution to the issue. Many schools in Đức Hòa District have been built following this method.

In Đức Hòa District, there are ten industrial parks and 20 industrial clusters with more than 60,000 migrant workers living and working, requiring many schools for workers’ children.

So far, as many as 64 schools have been built, serving about 59,000 students yearly.

The local authority said the district had received funding from the society to build three new schools since 2008, including; Thi Văn Tám Secondary School, sponsored by Him Lam Joint Stock Company; the newly-built Hậu Nghĩa High School; and the upgraded Hậu Nghĩa Secondary School, sponsored by Liên Việt Post Bank, with a total cost of VNĐ141 billion (US$5.94 million).

Trương Minh Bạch Secondary School, sponsored by Doctor Trương Minh Tuyết and teacher Trần Đình Chiến, has completed construction.

Nguyễn Văn Vinh, the school’s principal, said the school is opening this month.

The school is worth more than VNĐ100 billion ($4.21 million) and is in Đức Lập Thượng Commune on an area of 2.3ha. According to national standards, 24 classrooms and 23 function rooms can serve 2,160 students.

Võ Văn Tần High School, funded by HDTC Housing Development and Trading Joint Stock Company, with a total investment of about VNĐ70 billion ($2.95 million), is expected to be completed and put into use in the next school year.

The school has 78 rooms with a capacity of nearly 2,000 students.

The district has received funding from individuals to repair and upgrade Đức Lập Thượng A school in Đức Lập Thượng Commune, Lê Quảng Thẩm Secondary School in Hựu Thạnh Commune and Nguyễn Thị Hạnh Primary School in Mỹ Hạnh Nam Commune.

Vice Chairman of Đức Hòa District 's People’s Committee Liêu Văn Bùng said that in 2013 the district established the Võ Văn Tần Scholarship Fund to award underprivileged students with good performance. The fund of more than VNĐ15 billion can help disadvantaged students to keep up their studies.

Bùng said the fund to build preschools and private schools remained low, and land funds for school development were still restricted.

Đức Hòa District is developing rapidly with certain increases in population, creating further pressure on the construction of schools.

To gradually solve the problem, the district will accelerate the construction and development of schools and, at the same time, forecast the growth of the district for the following years to avoid overcrowding schools.

He recommended specific mechanisms to attract more funding to develop private schools in the future. — VNS